More or Less

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

Radio 4,685 episodes

Episodes

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Covid vaccines and false claims about miscarriage
We debunk viral claims that incorrectly link covid-19 vaccines with a risk of miscarriage
25 Mar 2023,9 mins
Silicon Valley Bank: a very modern bank run
How do bank runs happen?
18 Mar 2023,9 mins
Do fungi kill three times as many people as malaria?
We investigate the claim that fungal infections are a much bigger killer than malaria.
11 Mar 2023,8 mins
Does your jewellery contain stolen Brink’s-Mat gold?
We ask what happened to the 3 tonnes of pure gold after the infamous robbery of 1983
04 Mar 2023,10 mins
UK vs European energy prices, falling excess deaths and is 5 grams of cocaine a lot?
We debunk a claim that the UK has by far the highest energy prices in Europe
01 Mar 2023,28 mins
Do 29,000 coffee pods really go to landfill every minute?
We explore the environmental consequences of our thirst for coffee
25 Feb 2023,10 mins
Reoffending rates, Welsh taxes and the menopause
Tim Harford and team fact check a government claim about falling reoffending rates
22 Feb 2023,29 mins
Florence Nightingale and how she visualised data
Tim Harford discusses the power of the nurse statistician’s groundbreaking diagrams
18 Feb 2023,10 mins
Nurses' pay, ambulance times and forgotten female economists
We look at how much nurses in the UK are paid compared with those in Europe.
15 Feb 2023,28 mins
Spreadsheet disasters
The long and costly history of spreadsheet mistakes
11 Feb 2023,10 mins
The IMF and the UK economy, NHS staff shortages and British vs English
How much should we trust the IMF’s forecasts for the UK?
08 Feb 2023,28 mins
Hannah Fry on using shopping data to detect ovarian cancer
The mathematician discusses a study that suggests loyalty card data could signal cancer.
04 Feb 2023,9 mins
Brexit and trade, pensioner millionaires and Hannah Fry on loyalty cards and cancer
We examine a claim that the UK’s trade with the EU has increased since Brexit
01 Feb 2023,28 mins
Are wild mammals only 4% of the mammal population?
Are wild mammals only 4% of the mammal population?
28 Jan 2023,10 mins
Coffee with the Chancellor, inflation measures, GP numbers and toilet paper
We fact check Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to halve inflation
25 Jan 2023,28 mins
Does toilet paper cause 15% of global deforestation?
We investigate the impact of our use of toilet paper on the world’s forests.
21 Jan 2023,8 mins
Ambulance response times, teacher pay and Irish pubs
How long are people really waiting when they call 999 for an ambulance?
18 Jan 2023,29 mins
How we shook the world of very large numbers
How an edition of More or Less influenced the naming of enormous numbers
14 Jan 2023,8 mins
A&E delays and deaths, religious identity in N Ireland and naming the monster numbers
How many people may be dying because of treatment delays in the NHS?
11 Jan 2023,28 mins
Can China's data on covid deaths be trusted?
Is China under-reporting data on Covid related deaths?
07 Jan 2023,9 mins
Irish pubs - a global numbers game
Are there more Irish pubs in Ireland than in all other countries combined?
31 Dec 2022,10 mins
Numbers of the Year 2022
Tim Harford and guests on the numbers that help tell the big stories of the year.
24 Dec 2022,8 mins
Qatar World Cup: the pressure of penalties
We analyse World Cup penalty data to ask what boosts the chance of scoring from the spot
17 Dec 2022,8 mins
Why are data so important in determining how we live?
How good policies depend on the availability of reliable statistics
10 Dec 2022,8 mins
The World Cup: how many migrant workers have died?
Examining the wildly varying estimates of deaths in the run-up to the tournament in Qatar
03 Dec 2022,10 mins
When do food shortages become a famine?
With Somalia in crisis, we ask how data is used to officially declare a famine
26 Nov 2022,8 mins
A $220 billion World Cup?
Has hosting the FIFA football World Cup really cost Qatar $220bn?
19 Nov 2022,8 mins
Bonus Episode: Understand the Economy
Tim Harford brings you the first episode of his new podcast and explains inflation
14 Nov 2022,14 mins
Improving the numbers in the news
Tim Harford discusses the role statistics should play in the reporting of the news
12 Nov 2022,8 mins
Lula’s “zero deforestation” plan for the Amazon
How much of the rainforest has been lost? And can Brazil’s new president save it?
05 Nov 2022,8 mins